Japanese otaku have been delighted to learn they can now stamp all manner of official documents with moe girls thanks to the advent of the “ita-in” seal, with fans busily registering them for use at banks and other official institutions, and some enthusiastic souls even vowing to use them to seal their marriage certificates.

The seals in question, traditional throughout East Asia, are still essential for “signing” most legal documents in Japan, so there is a diverse market for every kind of seal imaginable, in materials ranging from wood to mammoth ivory.

The idea for the business came from their earlier efforts to sell rubber moe-seals, already fairly well known amongst otaku. These were felt to be a little lacking however, and they enquired of traditional seal carvers (a multiplicity of which will have shops near any Japanese station of size) as to whether they could carve moe seals.

This proved possible, and the results were so impressive they soon led to a business venture.

The company’s break occurred when a tweet pointing out that the seals could be registered for use in official contexts such as banks just as any seal was widely retweeted, leading to a flood of orders.

For those interested in the specifics, various standard sizes of hanko and inkan are available for ¥1,380-¥2,980, and custom designs can be submitted by providing a monochrome image.

The main problem for many potential customers may be their hard line on copyright and doujin art – only Touhou and Higurashi derivative art receives automatic approval, with permission from the copyright holder (i.e. publisher, not merely the artist) required for everything else, severely limiting the possibility of K-ON! and Moebyou seals for now.

I love this story… In theory, being able to register any image for personal use would allow for such creativity. I’d always thought this kind of thing wouldn’t be allowed though. Wikipedia for instance says of the jitsuin (legal, formal seal):

“The size, shape, material, decoration, and lettering style of jitsuin are closely regulated by law. For example, in Hiroshima, a jitsuin is expected to be roughly 1⁄2 to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 cm), usually square or (rarely) rectangular but never round, irregular, or oval, and must contain the individual’s full family and given name, without abbreviation. The lettering must be red with a white background (shubun), with roughly equal width lines used throughout the name. The font must be one of several based on ancient historical lettering styles found in metal, woodcarving, and so on; ancient forms of ideographs are commonplace. A red perimeter must entirely surround the name, and there should be no other decoration on the underside (working surface) of the seal, though the top and sides (handle) of the seal may be decorated in any fashion from completely undecorated to historical animal motifs to dates, names, and inscriptions.”

Can these be registered as a person’s jitsuin (official registered seal that can be used for legal documents, such as contracts), or just for lower priority, such as a ginkoin (bank seal for passbooks)?

Their official website (http://www.itaindou.com/jisseki.php , sory I don’t know html) says these aren’t accepted at city halls. I assume that means they can’t be registered as jitsuin since you register it at your local government office.
However they also say some city halls which have no rule against “designed seal” may accept it, so there’s still hope.

MATTA!
No contradiction. They can now officially marry anime and game characters, so it doesn’t contradict anything for otaku to have a marriage ceremony. Just they won’t have a 3D girl, but they’ll be happy.

Actually, it’s the opposite. Mass-produced ones aren’t unique enough for legal documents, which is why people have them handmade. They don’t do it themselves, largely because not everyone has the skill to carve kanji in mirror image, and also because despite this story, the requirements for a jitsuin are rather stringent (so it’s kind of like taking your own passport photo vs having it done professionally.)